Army chief to visit Japan to bolster military ties

Feb 2, 2013, 08.27PM ISTTNN[ Rajat Pandit ]

General Bikram Singh will be heading for Tokyo on a four-day visit later this month.

NEW DELHI: With India and Japan in the process of further cranking up their military ties across the entire spectrum, Army chief General Bikram Singh will be heading for Tokyo on a four-day visit later this month.

"The strategic-military partnership with Japan is evolving to a new level. General Singh, who will leave on February 11, will meet the Japanese defence minister, military chiefs and others to discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral ties. He will also visit some defence establishments," said an official.

The visit comes soon after India and Japan, both wary of the increasingly assertive behaviour of China and the rapid modernisation of its People's Liberation Army, held their first-ever maritime dialogue on January 29.

Ranging from joint combat exercises and coordinated anti-piracy patrols to counter-terrorism and service-to-service exchanges, India and Japan are implementing a "action plan to advance security cooperation".

The plan, which dwells upon strategic and defence cooperation as well as coordination in tackling terrorism, piracy and proliferation, is meant to reinforce the strategic focus in the "global partnership" between India and Japan, say officials.

"India and Japan have similar views on several global and regional issues like extremism, terrorism and WMD-proliferation. The two are also keen to ensure the safety of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean Region and Asia-Pacific because both depend largely on maritime traffic for their energy and trade needs," said an official.

"In addition to regular exercises being held between the Indian and Japanese coast guards, our naval warships are also conducting coordinated anti-piracy patrolling in the Gulf of Aden. We also have regular Navy-to-Navy staff talks," he added.